Chapter Text
The Aftermath saga continues. We pick up the story after Root and Shaw both endured medical scares and it was discovered the Machine had lost whatever morality it originally possessed. I started this after POI ended and I believed the producers left too many opportunities for continuation. I appreciate all critiques and comments. I don’t own any of the characters in POI.
“Damn it Harry, She crashed again.”
Root turned from her laptop concern written across her features. Their work trying to rebuild a conscience (for lack of a better word) into the Machine had hit snag after snag for the past several days. Initial steps seemed promising as the coding to reinstall commands which would incorporate moral judgements was relatively easy to write.
Coming up with the parameters for the moral judgements, not so easy. The arguments got feisty and loud before Shaw of all people came up with a possible solution.
“Look, the founders of this country used Judeo-Christian ethics building the foundation of the government. Can’t you just input a similar ethical foundation and put the dicey questions to a committee for consideration. Hell, you could even create a virtual committee with members like Plato, Aristotle, Moses, Jesus, etc.
“Upload all their teachings into its core functionality and let it make some decisions based on the arguments that we all accept as moral. And add a line or two that kicks out questions that are too ambiguous. If there’s no answer- flag it for discussion. QED.”
Except, of course it wasn’t QED. But it was a start. And Shaw was brought in to the 9:00AM strategy meetings on a regular basis. No good deed goes unpunished.
Once the basic foundation of the conscience was determined, the next step was to install it onto the copy (clone?) of the Machine they created and observe the Machine’s reaction. And the reaction was swift, surprising and, as it proved, expensive.
At 12:01AM they ran the first test with the Machine’s new conscience. At 12:01.00.01 (yes, one one-hundredth of a second after midnight) the Machine crashed and shut completely down. Interestingly, the diagnostics of that one one-hundredth of a second yielded 165 pages of code and error messages that required painstaking debugging to attempt to isolate the issue that lobotomized the cloned Machine.
Analysis of the pages proved inconclusive so the team (Finch, Root and Gen) ran an isolated version removing the “virtual committee” altogether. That got them an extra two one-hundredths of a second before system shutdown. Four other tweaks yielded similar results- in reality they were making zero progress.
They had set a schedule that gave them a semblance of normality, more for Gen than the others. Tweaks to the system were done between 7:30 and 11:30AM, then installed for the 12:30 run. At 12:45 the group began analyzing the results, then worked on potential fixes until finished.
They shot for 6:00PM but Harold tended to work late into the evening- sometimes when Root, Shaw and Gen showed the next morning he would still be dressed in the previous day’s clothing. The others tried to ignore the indications that Finch was taking this to obsessive levels, but Root decided to bring it up this afternoon while Gen was off tutoring and Shaw was assisting the medical staff (one of the solutions to keep her distracted).
After briefly discussing the day’s failure, Root and Finch went to work as Gen and Shaw headed off to their afternoon’s routine. Root waited until they had been working about a half-hour then jumped in.
“Harry, I’m worried about you. We will solve this eventually, She’s been operating independently of a ‘conscience’ for over a year and the world hasn’t ended. You’re working too hard.”
“What ‘She’ is doing out there without any restrictions scares me Ms. … Root. Our recent discovery that the Machine has been working with some entity ‘cloning’ organs for our team may only be the tip of the iceberg.
“Remember, we know the Machine has recruited at least one team we had no knowledge of until right before we took down Samaritan. How many others are out there? And how many actions has the Machine taken that would remind us of the way Samaritan viewed humanity- something to be controlled rather than aided?
“I’m sorry, but we need to fix this, then I can relax.”
“We also need you at your peak Harold, not functioning at less than 100% because you don’t get any rest.”
“I’ll take that under advisement, now let’s look at this error message….”
….
Reese worked his way through the seventh floor quickly. He had already confirmed all employees had left the IT Department of Welch Technologies before taking the elevator to the restricted floor. Ensuring that no stragglers had stayed behind he activated his comm.
“Clear Ellie, let’s get this done.”
“Roger that. Hey John, this reminds me of old times.” Elizabeth Ruben released the elevator and carried in the briefcase and toolbox they brought along for this particular operation. Someone at Welch was investigating activities that could lead eventually to the Machine and John and Elizabeth were assigned the task of diverting the investigation.
Reese’s response was to huff and deflect.
“Reminiscing can wait Ellie, get the blade installed.”
Elizabeth flipped off her comm and headed toward the Server Room.
I wonder what’s got his undies in a bundle?
She withdrew her fake ID badge and ran it through the reader. An audible click signaled the door unlocking. Ruben listened as the Machine directed her to the correct tower and she set to work.
Within ten minutes the correct server blade had been replaced with a duplicate that contained just enough code to throw whoever was investigating in a direction that provided the Machine with anonymity and would provide the investigator with an unsatisfying answer, but an answer nonetheless.
It would also provide a trail back to the source, allowing Harold and the team to investigate the investigator. Harold had decided if the background proved benign he was going to recruit whoever managed to dig up enough information on the Machine to get this far.
Finch had said, “We can always use more talent. If this person could potentially find a trail that leads back to the Machine, we could possibly divert that ability into something that would help us.”
Ellie activated her comm. “We’re done here, John, let’s get going.”
She met up with Reese and the two headed back to the elevator. They presented their work order to the guard in the lobby and signed out. Somewhere, an invoice for routine AC maintenance was generated and their trip was lost in the normal shuffle of business for a typical corporate entity.
Crucial maybe, boring definitely. Reese and Elizabeth had flown from Albuquerque to El Paso earlier that day and by the time their operation was complete it was approaching 11:00PM. The return flight didn’t leave until 10:30 the next morning so they checked into the hotel closest to the airport.
“Want to get a drink John? We’ve got time since we don’t have to be out of here until 8AM.”
“I’m just going to bed.”
“John, what’s wrong? You’ve been off all day.”
“Good night Ellie.” Reese turned toward his room.
“If I screwed up or did anything to piss you off, I’m sorry.”
John hesitated, then dropped his head. Turning back he smiled faintly.
“Not you, Ellie, you did great. You are great. It’s me, and it’s something I need to work out. I’ll see you in the morning.” He slid his card through the lock and entered his room without another word.
Elizabeth shook her head and called it a night.
….
Shaw was waiting for the pair as they left the airport terminal.
“Hey you two, your ride’s here.”
Elizabeth smiled at Shaw and hugged her.
“Thanks for picking us up.”
Reese nodded at Shaw, threw his carryon in the back of the SUV and climbed in the back seat without a word. Shaw and Elizabeth shared a look, Elizabeth shrugged and climbed in the passenger seat. The ride was only fifteen minutes but seemed longer as Elizabeth and Shaw updated each other on the past day’s events while John brooded in silence.
After arriving at the hospital, Reese said he was going to the gym and disappeared. As Shaw and Elizabeth walked down toward the area Root and Finch were working on the Machine’s latest crash, Shaw looked at Elizabeth.
“What did you do to him anyway? He’s got a bug up his ass big time.”
“I don’t know, Shaw, I even asked him last night if I screwed up or something. He assured me it was him, not me, but I couldn’t get anything out of him.”
Shaw accompanied Elizabeth until they reached the conference room. As they watched Root and Finch work, Shaw turned away.
“Go on in and help them, I’m going to the gym.”
Elizabeth called after her.
“No fighting, Shaw, you’re still recovering from brain surgery.”
“Reese would be the only one who had to worry about head trauma, but I’m not going to fight with him. Just talk some sense into him.”
Arriving at the gym, Shaw found Reese lifting weights. She walked in and approached her friend and partner.
“Spot you?”
Reese looked up at her and frowned.
“I wasn’t planning on using free weights today, Shaw, what’s really on your mind?”
“You’re screwing up the team. I noticed you weren’t your normal charming self this afternoon and Elizabeth said you’d been acting weird all yesterday. Brood all you want, John, but don’t let it rub off on others.”
“Since when are you my shrink?”
“Look, John, I’ve respected your confidence and want to continue to do so. But you’re rubbing people the wrong way and it could affect your and your partners’ performance and safety in the field. We both know what’s going on.
“She’s recovering. Dr. Ingram’s holistic treatments and Dr. West’s experimental ultrasound are working. Her mind is coming back, and even Elizabeth says she’s getting more and more like her old self. Her eyes, man, her eyes are something else when she’s engaged. I get it, but you’ve got to do something.
“You can’t sulk around like a lovesick teenager and take out all your angst on your teammates. Just do it, John, the worst that can happen is you get shot down.
“Ask Shannon out. Or I’ll have to intervene.”
Reese stared at her.
“Shit… alright but if this goes south I’m blaming you.”
“Whatever gets you through the night.”